Clipped Wings
by SnitchFeather284
Summary: Pidge's time as a prisoner of the Galra and the aftermath. No romance planned and all of the space family is involved. Warning: this story will most likely be fairly dark. Read at your own risk.
1. Prologue

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defenders or its characters.**_

It's funny how memories can flash by in the blink of an eye. Whether short or long, happy or sad, memories are often tucked into the recesses of our minds, constantly replaced by newer memories. They are only brought back for brief moments in time when we deem them needed again.

Over time, they begin to dull, to lose the emotions that they carried. They lose the details that made them so unique. They fade away until we can't recall them at all.

Yet regardless of this, they come back when memories are all we have left.

Whether they come back to haunt us about what we have lost or whether they are trying to keep us continuing on in life, I don't know. All that I know is that they make us feel again.

Cold, harsh rain biting your skin as it rushes past. The warmth of the sun that graces everything that it touches. The feeling of serenity that comes after a storm. The smile that once brought you happiness and hope but will forever be tainted by the pain you feel inside.

These memories that used to only give off a sense of emotion are brought back to life with the details that were lost long ago. The flicker of candlelight, the birds singing, the smell of autumn leaves. They all come back.

But memories aren't meant to last forever. As seasons change and years pass, the detail will begin to fade again.

Soon, you forget the warmth that came from a person's hug or you can't recall how their voice sounded. When memories become dim and silent, we refuse to let them go again. Our mind won't let us lose them again.

They are all we have left after all.

Even when they become emotionless and have no meaning, we forcing ourselves to hold on to the husk of what was once a powerful memory because we refuse to move on. We can't accept that they aren't meant to be remembered forever.

It's been over a year since Matt and Dad went missing, their memories slowly fading from my mind. The comfort of dad's hug after a tough day. The hope that Matt always radiated. The sweet smell of mom's perfume. It's all disappearing from my memory, drifting away from my grasps.

It was because I couldn't remember Matt's birthday that I began to panic.

It was because I panicked that I became sloppy.

It was because I became sloppy that I was captured.

 _ **This is my first story in a long time and my first Voltron story but I hope that you enjoy it.**_

 _ **WARNING: I'm planning for this story to get quite a bit darker and will highlight the physical and psychological trauma that Pidge will go through. If you aren't comfortable with this then I suggest that you don't read this story.**_


	2. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer- I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defender**_

Chapter 1

The mission was supposed to be easy.

In the past three years that Pidge had been part of Voltron, they had accomplished hundreds of missions similar to this one without a hitch so why was it that she was captured now.

Simply, Pidge got sloppy.

Over three years have passed since her dad and Matt disappeared and she hasn't found any new leads on where they might be in what felt like forever. Pidge couldn't help but feel like she was failing them. So, even though she was only supposed to quickly download some schematics and get out of there, she got distracted by the prisoner files and began downloading them against her better judgement.

The Galra must have found her and filled the room with some form of knockout gas because the last thing that Pidge remembered before she blacked out was a sickeningly sweet chemical smell.

From Pidge's best guess, she was captured roughly five weeks ago and other than a few minor incidents, she has been relatively left alone. That isn't to say that she was left unscathed. The Galra had been weakening her: they fed her small quantities of black food sludge at random periods and they restricted her sleep with those damn purple lights that never go off and the constant vibrations from the engine. She felt so weak physically and mentally. Now, watching Haggar's menacing sneer as she entered Pidge's cell with 2 other druids flanking her, Pidge figured that her situation was about to get a lot worse.

"Green Paladin, we finally meet."

Pidge couldn't stop herself from shuddering as the witches hoarse voice filled the usually silent cell. She didn't want to show any weakness but ever since she woke up here after she was captured, she couldn't help but think of how badly the druids managed to hurt Shiro and what they were going to do to her.

Haggar had a menacing presence around her. Everything about her was sharp, making her seem menacing and Pidge could almost feel Haggar's yellow eyes piercing her soul, making her want to shrivel up into a hole. But she had to be strong and not show weakness.

She owed that to her family, her team and herself.

It had been hard being alone these past few weeks. Pidge swears that she had almost gone insane multiple times. Since she had been captured, she had been isolated with the humming of the engine the only noise she heard. In the beginning, she would talk to herself, trying to fill the silence but she gave up on that after the first week and has been silent since. Around week 4, she briefly questioned if the team was ever going to find her or if they were even still looking but she quickly snapped out of that. She knows that they would never give up on her. They aren't just a team but a family and families never gives up on each other.

"I have been watching you for a while now. You are quite resilient for such a small one. I would love to test that resilience."

As the last syllables crossed Haggar's lips, the two druids that flanked her lunged forwards to restrain Pidge by the arms. No matter how tired and weak she felt from the past few weeks, she knew that she had to fight them so she wrenched her body to the left, twisting out of their grips. She used her momentum to kick druid #1s legs out from underneath him, ignoring the burn from the cuts from their claws left as they dragged down her arms.

She then leapt at #2, using their hip as a foothold so she could volley herself up near their neck. The druid flailed around violently, trying to shake the small paladin off but the wrapped her arms around their neck in an attempt to render them unconscious. She almost succeeded to, but just before she knocked them out, #1 got back up and shot her in the back with a bolt of dark energy, wracking her small frame with excruciating pain.

Pidge fell onto her side with a heavy thud, but the pain from the fall was nothing compared to raw agony that coursed through her veins from the magic. It felt like pure acid was racing through her body, infecting her entire being. Her throat was closing up and her body was convulsing, trying to cope with the torment that was attacking it.

It ached.

It burned.

And then it was over. For a brief, blissful moment, the relief overwhelmed Pidge, leaving her body numb. She could almost swear she was floating, she felt so light. But slowly, an aching pain started to leach through Pidge's temporary bliss, increasing from a dull throb to feeling like she just battled a Galra fleet and lost.

"Get up."

Pidge had never been one to follow orders, and she especially didn't want to follow Haggar's but even if she had, she couldn't. Pidge could swear that her legs were made of jelly. It would be basically impossible to stand right now.

"Get up NOW you weakling."

Pidge didn't bother even turning her head towards Haggar, let alone try to stand Why bother, she can't stand and she definitely doesn't want to look at Haggar any longer than she has to. The old witch always left her feeling unsettled.

Realizing that Pidge wouldn't cooperate with her, she shot her hand out and used her magic to harshly pick the Green Paladin up. She then tossed Pidge into the arms of druids #1 and #2 before walking off, leaving them to drag Pidge between them.

They held her by her arms, letting her feet drag behind them as they winded through the dark halls of the Galra ship. Despite the pain she felt, Pidge focused as much as she can so that she could create a mental map of the ship. Regardless if her team comes in time or not, Pidge plans to escape, soon preferably, and she can use all the help she can get.

It seemed like they passed through an endless amount of corridors before they finally entered a room.

The room was pitch black at first but as the door closed behind them, the lights came to life showing of what Pidge can only assume is her torture room. The main feature was a metal medical bed with heavy duty straps that sat upon a dais in the center of the room. Lining the walls were menacing alien torture devices. Near the back of the room, there were two doors, both leading off into two different areas.

Pidge didn't have much time to look around at the room before the druids were dragging her towards the bed in center. Icy dread filled Pidge's stomach as it truly dawned on her that she was about to be tortured. She tried to twist out of their grips but her body was still so sore and drained that she could barely even lift a finger.

The druids slammed the Paladin onto the table and swiftly secured her to the bed.

"You should feel honoured Paladin,"

Haggar sneered, emphasizing Pidge's title, as she crept closer to her captive.

"Lord Zarkon had this bed custom made so that it would fit such a small frame."

Pidge couldn't help but scowl hearing those words. She had been made fun of for being small all of her life and it seemed like, even in space, she couldn't get away from it.

"You humans have proven to be resilient. No one thought that your species was going to last even half as long as you have. You are stubborn and determined but your bodies are weak."

Haggar accentuated her point by punching Pidge in the stomach, hitting her so hard that she almost puked.

"You're frail."

Punch

"Puny."

Slap

"Brittle."

Punch

"Inferior."

Inferior

"You're worthless."

Punch

Haggar continued her barrage for so long, earning guttural grunts for each hit, that Pidge was worried that she would start bleeding internally soon when a loud snapping noise echoed in the room. The Green Paladin questioned what the noise had been from for a few seconds before the pain finally hit and she began howling in pain.

Haggar had broken her femur, the strongest bone in the human body.

Pidge was in pure agony. Her right leg felt like it was on fire and her whole body ached but Haggar wasn't done yet. She kept attacking, punch after punch, never letting up, even as more snapping noises were heard. She broke multiple ribs and shattered both of the bones in Pidge's lower left arm.

Pidge would have passed out long ago from the pain if it hadn't been for Haggar digging her elbow into the break in her femur every time she was almost out.

After almost a varga*, Haggar finally stopped her bombardment, allowing for Pidge to finally pass out from exhaustion.

 **I hope you all enjoy. I'm just getting into the swing of writing again so I'm sorry if it's not the best.**

*a varga is a little over an hour


	3. Chapter 2

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron: Legendary Defenders or it's characters**_

Chapter 2

Even though Pidge had been unconscious for a while, she was in constant pain the entire time. She was constantly weaving in and out of consciousness, letting out small whimpers as she her whole body throbbed.

She was finally fully brought back to the conscious world as she felt something touching her broken leg. The clawed hands were wrapping some type of gauze around her thigh, almost like they were trying to use a splint but they hadn't set the bone so it was just holding everything together in the wrong position. As the person kept wrapping her thigh, they moved it slightly and Pidge let out the most guttural cry that echoed throughout the entire room as pain wracked her body.

Pidge was in so much pain that she was shivering uncontrollably but the hands kept working, wrapping up the different parts of the body.

The gauze was more advanced than its earthen counterpart. It gave off a cool sensation, numbing the acute pain from all of the breaks that Pidge sustained. It was relaxing to say the least. With the major source of pain that had been plaguing her numb, Pidge's body felt like it was finally able to untense and try to heal. She felt like she was floating on cloud nine.

And then the hands began to remove the gauze and Pidge was confused.

She opened her eyes for the first time and saw that the druid that the hands belonged to was removing the gauze from around where they broke her arm first and she almost puked when she saw the state that her body was in. Her body was a disturbing patchwork of bruises ranging from deep black to a putrid yellow and she was covered in scrapes and lacerations but Pidge was used to the scrapes and bruises. What made her sick was the angle that her arm was pointing.

Haggar had shattered both the radius and the ulna in her yesterday and it seemed like that the galra gauze had set it in the broken position so now it was bent at a 45 degree angle. She tried to bend her finger but she could barely twitch her fingers. Luckily though, it feels as though her ribs were set in the correct position.

Pidge didn't even want to know what her leg looked like.

The young Paladins attention was drawn towards the door as it opened to let Haggar in. The druid that was attending to her wounds suddenly stepped back and tilted their head in respect towards Haggar.

Haggar raked her eyes over the Green Paladin, taking in how the wound she inflicted yesterday had been healed. Taking care to look at how the broken bones had been sent, she was pleased to see them bent at such odd angles. Those would impede on any escape attempts that the small human tried and it would help break her further.

The old witch nodded at the druid, releasing them from their duty and silently telling them to leave the room.

Once the door closed behind the druid, Haggar walked closer.

Pidge was expecting Haggar to start speaking. Maybe she was going to start questioning her finally about the team or maybe she was just going to spew out the stereotypical bad guy monologue.

But the witch remained silent. Instead, when she arrived near Pidge, she began undoing the straps that still held Pidge down.

Although she had a feeling that it would be useless, Pidge knew that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she didn't keep fighting. Haggar first began to remove the straps holding her limbs and torso, leaving the one holding her head down for last. She knew that half of her limbs were near useless, having been set in the wrong positions and they were still painful as well, so she'd have to go about this some other way.

Being in so much pain, it made it difficult to think of how to fight Haggar. She already knows that she can't use her left hand and after a quick test, she can still move her right foot for the most part but she doesn't know if she'll be able to put pressure on that leg so outright running wasn't an option. Besides, she doesn't know if there are druids outside of the door in case she tries to escape. At least her dominant hand was still working.

Honestly, Pidge doubts that she can escape right now but she can at least show that she isn't about to give up.

As Haggar was finishing with the final strap, Pidge decided to do something that she rarely ever does. She drew on her inner Keith and, without any sort of plan, Pidge dove in head first.

Literally.

As the head strap was removed, Pidge sat up as fast as she could, smashing her head into Haggar's. While it wasn't her best idea ever, knowing that she couldn't escape, the look of annoyance and aggravation on the Old Witch's face was worth it. Though the guttural growl that Haggar let out next was unnerving to say the least.

The witch leapt forwards, grabbing Pidge with the bicep her broken arm in one hand and a fistfull of hair in the other, which she used to drag the paladin off of the table.

Pidge stumbled as she was forced to stand so suddenly and felt her knees buckling as pure agony ripped through her being for putting pressure so harshly on her wounded leg. Haggar didn't even pause as Pidge cried out in pain, she just began pulling Pidge towards one of the back doors.

As she gritted her teeth, forcing herself to walk with Haggar so that she wouldn't be dragged, Pidge thought that at least know she knows that she can put pressure and walk on that leg though she wouldn't be able to run and she definitely can't fight.

To Pidge, it felt like it took forever to reach the door but once she saw what lay behind it, she wished that it had taken longer.

The room was dark and plain. It was fairly small but had a high ceiling. The part that concerned Pidge was the mass of chains that dangled from the ceiling and the walls.

The human began to struggle, trying to avoid her fate but Haggar just wrenched her bad arm backwards, causing anguish to course through her whole body and stalling her struggle. Haggar held it behind Pidge as she forced her to limp towards the chains in the center.

Rather than letting go of Pidge to grab the chains, she used her magic. She made them shoot out and wrap around the young Paladins arms before snapping back, wrenching Pidge's arms behind her back and lugging her to the center of the room.

She bit her lip to the point of bleeding, refusing to scream as her damaged arm is jerked back but she couldn't keep the screams in anymore as the chains started to rise up, hoisting her up and dangling her by her arms. The chains were pulling her arms back to the center of back, causing her shoulder to scream out in pain. Pidge could feel the muscles and tendons in her shoulder stretching back, pulling in unnatural ways.

The whole design was made to hurt the arms ass all of the body weight hung from them and while Pidge was smaller and lighter than most prisoners that had this used on them, the weight can still cause much discomfort and possibly permanent damage if left too long. And Haggar planned to keep the Green Paladin up there for a long time. She could care less about the damage she might cause.

She can just replace anything damaged too much after all.


	4. Chapter 3

_**Disclaimer: I don't own Voltron or it's characters**_

Chapter 3

Pidge was hoping that being dangled up in the air was all hangar had in mind but she didn't seem to be in luck as the witch used her magic to form something within her clawed hands.

Pidge would somewhat consider herself a movie buff. Before half of her family went off on the Kerberos mission, they used to have movie night every friday night. It was a sacred thing that was shared just between the four of them. So after watching so many movies in her lifetime, Pidge was expecting for Haggar to be creating some monstrous looking tool that's covered in blood and rust so she was pretty underwhelmed when a shimmering purple bubble grew within the witches furry paws.

Even though the bubble looked fairly innocent, Pidge knew to never underestimate the enemy, especially Haggar and her druids, so she still felt shivers going down her spine as the old Altean witch crept forwards.

Haggar's thin lip was curled up in a sneer, revealing her sharp fangs and her eyes looked like they were glowing brighter as she took pleasure at the idea of causing pain.

Pidge fought the urge to look away as Haggar's shriveled hands began bringing the bubble closer to the youngers head. There was a sparkling purple mist swirling within the orb that almost became hypnotizing the longer you looked at it. Still not wanting to give in to Haggar, Pidge twisted her head sharply and bit the witched right hand as it moved near her face.

The Green Paladin fought the urge to gag as her teeth made contact with the surprisingly furry skin and bit down even further, breaking through the surface. Ignoring the oddly sour flavour of the Old Alteans blood, Pidge continued until she hit bone. Even as Haggar thrashed her hand around, Pidge refused to let go, wanting to cause Haggar even just a fraction of the pain that she had caused her.

The young human resembled a wild animal, trapped into a corner and lashing out at its captor in violence. The most basic parts of her brain were in fight or flight mode and she was tied up leaving violence as her only option.

Haggar finally came out of her shock at the Paladins actions after a few ticks and shot her with a beam of magic causing her immense pain again. The pain was so bad that Pidge almost immediately unclenched her jaw as her body began involuntarily convulsing.

Instead of ceasing her magic after her hand was let go, the witch used the pain to prevent any more attack as she expanded the bubble to be larger than the Green Paladins entire head. Haggar planned used the bubble to take away as many of Pidge's senses as possible, allowing the witch to better remove her prisoners ability to focus on any other stimuli than those Haggar provided

It was only after the bubble was finally placed around Pidge's head that Haggar finally stopper her magical assault against the Green Paladin.

Although the bubble had been purple on the outside, all Pidge could see was pure darkness surrounding her.

The black void was all consuming, devouring the small human whole. Whilst trapped in the inky obscurity, Pidge is rendered not only blind but deaf. Combined with her binds that barely allowed any movement, she was essentially defenseless and for the first time since she was captured, Pidge was terrified.

Knowing that the Paladin would have no concept of time or the world around her while trussed up like that, Haggar decided to mess with the earthling even more by leaving her to the nothingness that surrounds her for a day or two to watch her fear grow before she continued along with her plan.

 **This is just a short chapter but I'm working on the next one right now.**

 **I am so sorry that I have been gone for so long without uploading. I was helping my cousin with her wedding and I was also suffering from some writers block. I know where I want to go with the story but it's taking me some time to get there.**

 **Thank you for all of the sweet comments and I would love for you to send me any of your ideas.**


	5. Chapter 4

_**Disclaimer: I still own nothing**_

Chapter 4

Time held no meaning to Pidge within the bubble. She knows realistically that she couldn't have been in there for more than a day or two because they have yet to give her water but it's been long enough to cause quite a bit of damage.

Not only has Pidge become severely dehydrated but hanging from the chains worsened her pain from her recent beating and the newly healed breaks. The worst of the damage happened to her shoulder though. After dangling for so long both of her shoulders had been screaming in pain and she could swear that she nearly dislocated the joints multiple times whenever her body shifted positions.

She was becoming so sore that she actually welcomed the sight of Haggar and her druids and whatever new torture they dreamed up.

"Welcome back, Young Paladin. I trust that...enjoyed...your time out to the fullest."

After being in silence for so long, Haggar's croaking assaulted Pidge's ears more than ever.

"I hope that you are well rested because I have a test for you. One that you are going to want to do well on."

Pidge could barely focus on Haggar's through her pounding headache, most likely caused by her lack of water and food. Honestly, Pidge wouldn't be surprised at this point if Haggar was keeping her alive by magic right now because Pidge is pretty positive that she should be nearly dead with severe symptoms if not dead already.

While most of the old witches words went ignored by the human, her next sentence caught Pidge's attention.

"Your prize, should you succeed in your test is your brother, Matt. And I do hope you win him, Lord Zarkon brought him here just for you after all."

No matter how wrung out she was, Pidge still reacted to hearing her brothers name. Not only was she shocked to her his name but she was shocked that they knew he was her brother. She had began to lose hope of ever seeing him again and now she was hoping against all hope that they were lying. She could only imagine the horrors that him and her dad had faced as prisoners and how much worse it has been for them if the Galra knows their relations to her. She almost wishes that Haggar is lying about having Matt, even if that meant that Matt was already dead.

"Yes _Katie_ , Lord Zarkon knows about your brother and father. Don't worry, we have been taking care of your family very well."

Before Pidge could react to Haggar mentioning her real name and her family, they were beginning to move her.

After Pidge's outburst during their last encounter, Haggar made sure to use magic to paralyze the miniature beast as her druids released the chains and levitated her so she would follow them as they walked into the main room.

Pidge figured that they were going to enter the mystery room, but instead they walked in the hallway and began on a long trek.

Pidge tried to add onto her mental map of the ship as they walked to their destination but her head has been spinning since they began moving her. That coupled with the crippling headache left her incapable of basic thought process let alone able to map out the endless labyrinth these halls created.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, they entered what Pidge could only assume was a new torture chamber.

At first the room was pitch black. It was almost as if she was back in the bubble again, left strung up alone. And while she knew that she wasn't there anymore, she felt the same sense of hopelessness overwhelming her again. Even if there was no chains or bubbles holding her back, she was still injured with no weapon and trapped by a sadistic witch and her minions.

And then the lights turned on.

The soft purple lights flickered to life, revealing the newest torture chamber.

The room was large, larger than you'd think would fit on the battleship, and it's look varied from everything else Pidge had seen thus far. It was a fairly thin room but made up for it in width and was made of bare, dark concrete slabs which seemed to enhance the ominous aura that the lights seemed to give off.

The low ceiling and cold vibe reminded Pidge of her grandparents old cellar where they used to store the vegetables that they used to pickle themselves. She and Matt used to play down there, pretending that they were mad scientists creating their own monsters or that they were ghost hunters trying to find proof of ghosts. Sadly, Pidge didn't think that this room would create as good of memories as that old cellar did.

The druids floated her against the closest small wall, before dropping her and leaving the room, abandoning her with Haggar.

Except, there wasn't just Haggar.

"Say hello to your brother, Paladin."

Matt was sitting against the opposite wall, bound and blindfolded. He was dressed in tattered Galra prisoner clothes and his hair was a knotted mass, but Pidge would recognize him anywhere.

"Matt!"

Her voice cracked from disuse, but she knew that he heard it regardlessly as he began blindly searching for where her voice came from.

"Katie!?"

His voice was rougher and deeper than she remembered but it was just as welcoming as she remembered. It held the same warmth that always put a smile on her face as a child. Just hearing him speak made her feel like she was home again. Like she was safe again.

But she isn't safe, neither of them are, and she can't afford to forget that.

She smiled at Matt, trying to reassure him, but they both knew that Haggar has something grim up her sleeve.

 **I'm still trying to figure out what I want to write so any suggestions are welcome.**


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